Bank Panic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the video game. For financial crises involving banks, see Bank run.
Bank Panic
Bank Panic Cover.jpg
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Sanritsu Denki
Publisher(s)Arcade
MSX
Pony Canyon
Platform(s)Arcade, SG-1000, MSX, Master System
ReleaseArcade
MSX
1985
Master System
1987
Genre(s)First person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, 2 players alternating

Bank Panic[5] is an arcade shooter game developed by Sanritsu Denki and released by Sega in 1984.[2] Bally-Midway manufactured the game in the US. The player assumes the part of an Old West sheriff who must protect a bank and its customers from masked robbers.

Gameplay[]

The cowboy in the left door is making a deposit, while the masked cowboy on the right is about to rob the bank.

The layout of the bank is implicitly a circle with twelve numbered doors and the player in the center. The player can rotate to the left or right and view three doors at a time. The doors will open to reveal a customer (who will drop a bag of money, making a deposit), a robber (who will attempt to shoot the player) or a young boy (who will be holding a stack of three to five hats, which the player can rapidly shoot for a bag of money or bonus time). The level ends when all twelve doors have received one or more deposits. This is indicated by the numbered boxes across the top of the screen, with a red dollar sign showing a door with a completed deposit.

At random intervals, a bomb will be placed on one of the doors and a rapid timer will count down from 99. The player must move to that door and destroy the bomb with gunfire. Shooting a customer, being shot by a robber, failing to destroy a bomb, or failing to complete the level before the overall timer runs out (shown by a bar at the bottom of the screen) costs the player one life.

Some robbers will wear white boots; these robbers need to be shot twice to be eliminated. At times, a robber may push a customer aside or duck out of view to avoid the player's gunfire, or a door may open to reveal a customer tied up with rope. In the latter case, the player has a short time to fire one shot and free the customer, who will then make three deposits instead of one; if the player waits too long, a robber pushes the customer aside.

Shortly after a robber appears in a doorway, a timer appears above his head and begins to count quickly up to 0:30 and back down to 0:00, leading to a "FAIR" kill if he is shot during this period. Higher point values are awarded for shooting when the timer is closer to 0:00, but any shot fired before the timer appears leads to an "UNFAIR" kill and a minimum value. At the end of a level, the player earns bonus points for all deposits made and any remaining time, and a further bonus based on the average time of all FAIR kills made during the level.

Each time the player shoots a red-shirted robber when the timer displays 0:00, one letter in the word EXTRA is awarded, shown at the bottom of the screen. Completing the word awards a large bonus and an extra life and immediately advances the player to the next level.

Reception[]

In Japan, Game Machine listed Bank Panic on their November 1, 1984 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of the month.[6]

Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade game a positive review, calling it a well-designed game.[3] They later noted the game is similar to Nintendo's Hogan's Alley, which released the same year.[4] Computer Gamer magazine stated that the "Colourful and humurous [sic] graphics make this an enjoyable, if simple in concept, game."[7]

Legacy[]

West Bank is a clone from Dinamic Software for the ZX Spectrum,[8] Commodore 64, MSX, and Amstrad CPC. An Atari 8-bit family clone was released in 1992 as Bang! Bank![9]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 131. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Can You Brave the Bandit Bank?". Computer and Video Games. No. 43 (May 1985). 16 April 1985. p. 95.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Arcade Action: Hogan's Alley". Computer and Video Games. No. 47 (September 1985). 16 August 1985. p. 119.
  4. ^ バンクパニック, Banku Panikku
  5. ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 247. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 November 1984. p. 31.
  6. ^ Roberts, Mike (June 1985). "Coin-Op Connection". Computer Gamer. No. 3. Argus Press. pp. 18–9.
  7. ^ West Bank at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
  8. ^ "Bang! Bank!". Atari Mania.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""